Letter to the San Francisco Chronicle

in answer to Robert Scheer's column of April 24, 2002

By Stefan Sharkansky, Published in the Chronicle on April 26, 2002

Robert Scheer acknowledges correctly that the primary responsibility for the war in the Middle East is the Arab world's refusal to accept Israel's right to exist. Yet his prescriptions for correcting the situation are a non-sequitur, at best.

He suggests that the American media should hire more Arab journalists, and that the "powers of the world push both sides for negotiations". Certainly, no media outlet should discriminate against hiring candidates of Arab descent. But it's not clear how this alone will solve the central problem of the Arab rejection of Israel. Finally, any negotiation where one side rejects the other's right to exist, but not vice versa, is doomed to failure.

The only solution for peace in the region is for the Arab world to finally recognize Israel's right to exist within secure borders and to condemn without qualification and cease all terror against civilians. Only then will Israel be shorn of motivation and justification for the use of military force in the occupied territories. Only then will negotiations have a hope of success.

Scheer's original column with Stefan's longer response may be found here